Cable and fixed wireless service providers have made substantial investments to create Internet Protocol (“IP”) infrastructure. IP infrastructure comprises packet networks. As a natural consequence, such providers wish to leverage their existing IP infrastructure by offering telephony services that use packet networks to prospective residential subscribers. In other words, cable and fixed wireless services providers would like to mass market VoIP telephony services to such subscribers. In order to mass-market telephony services to subscribers, cable and fixed wireless service providers need mechanisms by which the subscribers are able register for and activate VoIP telephony services with relative ease.
The vast majority of subscribers are unlikely to need high-speed access for accessing IP networks. In one approach, providing VoIP telephony services required manual installation at the residence by a service person working for the provider. For example, the subscriber or an installer that works for the provider uses a VoIP-cable modem to call a technician who is located at the provider's office (back-office technician). The technician then manually enters information that is required for provisioning into the provider's provisioning delivery system. For example, the technician may enter the MAC address of the cable modem into the Telecordia Delivery/Cisco Element Manager system. The disadvantage to this approach is it requires one back-office technician for each subscriber/installer that may be simultaneously performing the provisioning operation.
In another approach, a subscriber or installer that works for the provider uses a computer to access the provider's online subscriber registration center in order to provision the VoIP interfaces on the subscriber's broadband modem. A commercial example of an online subscriber registration center is the Cisco Subscriber Registration Center (CSRC). The disadvantage to this approach is that it requires a computer for the provisioning operation, which may be unavailable if the subscriber does not own a computer or unwieldy if the installer has to resort to carrying the computer from house to house.
In yet another approach, a subscriber uses the touch tone interface on a telephone to provision VoIP interfaces through communication with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The disadvantage to this approach is that most IVR systems are unaware of the IP location of the broadband modem that is to be provisioned. Moreover, IVR systems are expensive.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for an improved and more efficient way to provide for provisioning VoIP interfaces, which provisioning can be performed by the subscriber.